Check this out. The mushrikeen, now and in the time of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم), believed in Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). Remember, these are the people who rejected Islam, and who are among the worst of people.
In Surah Ankabut, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:
[…]
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّن نَّزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ
Translation: If indeed thou ask them who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law), they will certainly reply, “Allah”. […] And if indeed thou ask them who it is that sends down rain from the sky, and gives life therewith to the earth after its death, they will certainly reply, “Allah!” (Surah Ankabut, verses 61-63)1
If they believed in Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), then what made them Mushrikeen? That they denied tawhid-al-uloohiyyah, Allah’s right to be the sole entity worthy of worship.
Check out this verse from Surah Yusuf:
Translation: And most of them believe in Allah, but commit shirk. (Surah Yusuf, verse 106)2
Ibn Abbas (رضي الله عنه), when asked about this verse, said “their eman in Allah is that if you ask, ‘who created you?’ they say ‘Allah’. Their shirk is that they worship other then him.”
Now, pay attention, this part is vital: what was the excuse of the jahili Arabs to commit shirk? They believed in Allah, so why worship other then Him? The answer lies in Surah Yunus:
Translation: They serve, besides Allah, things that hurt them not nor profit them, and they say: “These are our intercessors with Allah.” (Surah Yunus, verse 18)3
And also, in Surah Zumar:
Translation: Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than Allah (say): “We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah.” (Surah Zumar, verse 3)4
Their excuse–the same excuse used to justify shirk today–is that the ones they give Allah’s rights are the ones who will intercede for them. The ultimate object of their worship is Allah, indirectly!
If you’ve been to certain parts of this world where grave-worship is prevelant, you can hear this excuse for yourself–“We are too sinful to approach Allah directly, we need to go through middlemen.” This is the same shirk that the mushrik of Arabia commited during the time of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم), with the same excuse.
The Mushrikeen refused to single out Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) as the sole object of worship. Many of them already believed in Allah, in the Day of Judgement, in Heaven and Hell–fragments that remained from the religion of Ibrahim–but this halted them.
Surah Sad says:
أَجَعَلَ الْآلِهَةَ إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا إِنَّ هَذَا لَشَيْءٌ عُجَابٌ
Translation: So they wonder that a Warner has come to them from among themselves! and the Unbelievers say, “This is a sorcerer telling lies! Has he made the gods (all) into one Allah? Truly this is a wonderful thing!” (Surah Sad, verse 4-5)5
To them, to believe in and worship only one God, was a thing that was unbelievable. May Allah protect us from being like them.
If you truly understand tawhid ar-rububiyyah, it should lead to tawhid al-uloohiyyah. How can you acknowledge Allah as the Rabb–the Lord, the Creator, the Sustainer–and worship other then Him? And there are many verses in the Qur’an that ask exactly that. For example, surah Baqarah says:
[…]
فَلاَ تَجْعَلُواْ لِلّهِ أَندَاداً وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
Translation: O humankind! Worship your Lord … And do not set up rivals to Allah when ye know (better). (Surah Baqarah, verse 20-22)6
In this verse (and many similar verses), Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) mentions rububiyyah (worship your Lord) and then connects it to Uloohiyyah (and do not worship other then Him).
Rububiyyah alone is not enough to be saved. The vast majority of people believe in one Rabb. But the vast majority are not Muslim.
May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) give us a proper understanding of ‘aqeedah and tawhid, ameen!
(1) Muhammad, Pickthall M., trans. “Al-Ankaboot (The Spider).” Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic Text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 2 May 2006 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/29.htm>.
(2) Muhammad, Pickthall M., trans. “Yusuf (Joseph).” Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic Text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 2 May 2006 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/12.htm>.
(3) Muhammad, Pickthall M., trans. “Yunus (Jonah).” Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic Text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 2 May 2006 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/10.htm>.
(4) Muhammad, Pickthall M., trans. “Az-Zumar (The Troops).” Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic Text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 2 May 2006 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/39.htm>.
(5) Muhammad, Pickthall M., trans. “Sad (The Letter Sad).” Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic Text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 2 May 2006 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/38.htm>.
(6) Muhammad Pickthall M., trans. “Al-Baqarah (The Cow).” USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts. USC-MSA. 2 May 2006 <http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/002.qmt.html>.
(7) Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Light of Guidance. University of Toronto, Toronto. March 2006.